I am new to reloading and need some help. I can not find SP Magnum primers so I have tried SP primers. Here is what I tried and it goes bang but not near like the factory load. Here is what I used as my load. 158 grain Badman LSWC,6.0 grain Universal,Sellier & Bellot SP primer,set at OAL 1.590"

With the powders you have listed, standard primers should work. Just because your gun is a Magnum, it isn't necessary to use Magnum primers. I believe the powders used determine what type of primers are needed (I use magnum primers only for H110/W296, and WC820 and standard primers for 2400, Bluedot, and Unique in my 6 magnums).

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For a magnum cartridge I like to use a magnum primer. In these times, when supplies are limited I guess I'd use whatever I could get.

When supplies come back to the shelf I suggest you use, magnum primers and either Winchester 296 or Alliant 2400 for .357 Mag. From my experience the two powders are almost equal. If I remember right Hodgdon 110 and Winchester 296 are the exact same powder. You might research that a bit and make sure I'm right, according to my burn rate chart they have the exact same burn rate.

This combo below has given me the best performance. When I pull the trigger on my .357 I expect a loud bang, good recoil and that magnum feel. Anything else just doesn't work for me.

You might try this:

150 grain SWC, Cast
Magnum primer
14 grains Alliant 2400
1466 fps +/-

This is a published load out of the Lyman Pistol and Revolver book, third edition.

I'm sure I exceed the speed of a cast lead bullet although I have never tested the round with my chrono. However I never see any leading and the round is very accurate. I use it in my Henry BigBoy and my Ruger Blackhawk. It is a real performer.

Your reloading manual should tell you which primers to use. I am reloading almost 6,000 .357 Magnum cartridges a year (Yeah, I know, I am getting old and slowing down!)

I do not use magnum primers for the majority of my reloads. I know it is hard to find not only ammo, but the components as well. Check your manual and see if you have another powder that does not require the magnum primer.

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Those primers should work just fine. I prefer to use Magnum primers in .357 only because they were what I had on hand when I was developing a load for them. I use AA7 powder with a 158 grain JHP. The powders you have are not ones I would normally want to use for this caliber. Of the ones you have HS-6 probably will work better than the others.

As mentioned few powders need a magnum primer. You really do need the magnum primer with those powders when it gets cold outside. In hot weather even they could get by with a SP. You never know just what the temperature is going to be when you need to fire a load you did. It is best to use the Magnum primer for the powders that others have determined it is needed for. As mentioned AA7 doesn't need a magnum primer but you can develop a load easy enough using them. Who knows I may even be saving one or two tenths of a grain of powder per round. I may even be able to load an extra round every 100 or so rounds I load using the magnum primer provided I don't spill any of it. When you take into consideration the cost of powder it doesn't even come up to a spit in the bucket so to speak.

Interesting. I've never used magnum primers in the .357 magnum, nor yet in the .44 magnum. Pistol powders are so much faster than rifle powders that I've never seen the utility of stocking magnum pistol primers. Regardless, the powder seems to light-up just fine with standard primers.

Any of the powders you listed should light just fine with standard primers. Of course, if you feel better using magnum primers, by all means, use magnum primers. The only time I use magnum primers is in the big belted rifle cases that need the extra spark to light long cases filled with big-stick rifle powders.

The issue of magnum priming in 357 Magnum is confusing at best and recommendations change from source to source. Most of the bullet and powder companies default to magnum priming, although Speer recommends either the CCI500 or CCI550 depending on the powder. With all of your powders except for HS-6 they recommend standard priming. Every source I've ever read calls for magnum priming as critical with H110/296. Speer does NOT recommend magnum priming with 2400, even including a caveat against it with their latest data. But then they include the same caveat with N110 and Vihtavuori uses small rifle primers with their data in 357 Magnum with all of their powders. Alliant's Power Pro 300-MP is advertised as not needing magnum priming and none of Alliant's data use it. My best advice would be to use what you've got, start low and work up carefully. If you change anything start low again. Be glad you've got the primers you do. But I'm not loading H110/296 without magnum primers. I've read too much about that powder to stray from published data.

Like mentioned above the HS-6 is going to be the slowest of what you have listed, and you might see some unburnt powder in your barrel or cylinders using the standard primers. That said you might find if you tighten up the crimp it MAY help, but even then it will depend on your alloy and case tension as well.

I load quite a few different loads in bigger cases having more powder in them and get by just fine using standard primers in most all of them. However the issue with the slower stuff CAN turn around and bite you with a squib load.

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